Category: Research summaries

Research summaries

Environmental DNA and crayfish management

In this post Matthew Dougherty discusses his recent paper ‘Environmental DNA (eDNA) detects the invasive rusty crayfish Orconectes rusticus at low abundances‘ Tangled buoy strings, lost traps, pinched fingers, sweaty brows, and boats smeared with beef liver: these images define the experiences of countless managers and scientists who use baited trapping to monitor crayfish invasions, especially in lakes of the upper Midwest, USA. While these … Continue reading Environmental DNA and crayfish management

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Research summaries

The evolutionary canary in the coal mine

In this post Executive Editor Marc Cadotte discusses a paper he recently handled by François Keck and colleagues ‘Linking phylogenetic similarity and pollution sensitivity to develop ecological assessment methods: a test with river diatoms‘ Like canaries in coal mines, species can provide important information about deteriorating environmental conditions. A whole sub-discipline of environmental biomonitoring has emerged to provide the necessary tools to evaluate biological responses … Continue reading The evolutionary canary in the coal mine

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Using maths to guide conservation law enforcement

In this post Kiran Dhanjal-Adams discusses her recent paper ‘Optimizing disturbance management for wildlife protection: the enforcement allocation problem’ For International Women’s Day, we asked Kiran about her career in science and the challenges and improvements she is seeing in STEM. You can read all of our posts for International Women’s Day here. Determining where and when to carry out enforcement patrols can be a … Continue reading Using maths to guide conservation law enforcement

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Research summaries

Restoring Australian floodplains? Add water, reduce browsing, and lower salt*

In this post Associate Editor David Moreno Mateos discusses a paper he handled by Gillis Horner and colleagues ‘Recruitment of a keystone tree species must concurrently manage flooding and browsing’ It’s true, land management keeps getting complicated, especially when it gets to restoring sites. But the fact is that studies keep showing that we’re not that good at restoring ecosystems, essentially restored ecosystems tend not … Continue reading Restoring Australian floodplains? Add water, reduce browsing, and lower salt*

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Can we tackle climate change impacts with local habitat manipulation?

In this post Associate Editor Ayesha Tulloch discusses a paper she recently handled from Owen Greenwood and colleagues ‘Using in situ management to conserve biodiversity under climate change’ There is little doubt that over the next 100 years, climate change is likely to become one of the main drivers of biodiversity loss worldwide. The recent 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris, France, laid down … Continue reading Can we tackle climate change impacts with local habitat manipulation?

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Crucial for population management: new model solves old missing data problem and provides mortality estimates for male African lions

In this post Julia Barthold discusses the recent paper “Bayesian estimates of male and female African lion mortality for future use in population management” by her and co-authors A. J. Loveridge, D.W. Macdonald, C. Packer, and F. Colchero. The article is part of the BES cross-journal special feature “Demography Beyond the Population”. In 2013, I wanted to project the population dynamics of African lions. This … Continue reading Crucial for population management: new model solves old missing data problem and provides mortality estimates for male African lions

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Restoration of the tallgrass prairie in the face of global changes

In this post Nick Smith and Mike Schuster discuss their recent paper with Jeffrey Dukes ‘Rainfall variability and nitrogen addition synergistically reduce plant diversity in a restored tallgrass prairie‘ Prairies once covered great swathes of North America, from Texas to Canada and the foothills of the Rocky Mountains to the hardwood forests of the Eastern United States. These grasslands were home to a diverse array … Continue reading Restoration of the tallgrass prairie in the face of global changes

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Do we have a clue about the role of wildlife in antimicrobial resistance dynamics?

In this post, Marion Vittecoq discusses her Review paper published today in Journal of Applied Ecology ‘Antimicrobial resistance in wildlife‘ A crucial issue Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) spread is of major concern for human health and associated with growing economical issues. While it is increasingly hypothesized that wildlife could play an important role in antimicrobial-resistant bacteria (AMRB) dynamics, empirical data remain scarce at the moment. Nevertheless … Continue reading Do we have a clue about the role of wildlife in antimicrobial resistance dynamics?

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Pastures new for pollinators?

In this post Associate Editor Peter Manning discusses the paper he recently handled from Katherine Orford and colleagues ‘Modest enhancements to conventional grassland diversity improve the provision of pollination services‘ You can also read a blog post from Katherine here: Managing ecosystem services: a grassland experiment Pollinator insects have undergone a global decline, and there is evidence that this may be placing both crop production … Continue reading Pastures new for pollinators?

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Research summaries

Managing ecosystem services: a grassland experiment

In this post Katherine Orford discusses her recent paper ‘Modest enhancements to conventional grassland diversity improve the provision of pollination services‘ You can also read a blog post from the Associate Editor who handled this paper, Peter Manning here: Pastures new for pollinators? Grassland diversity Species-rich grasslands were once widespread across Western Europe. However, post-war agricultural intensification has resulted in wide-scale conversion of these diverse grasslands … Continue reading Managing ecosystem services: a grassland experiment

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